H-1B wage levels
H-1B and PERM prevailing wages are set in four levels indexed to the local OEWS wage distribution for the occupation. The level reflects the job's skill, complexity, and judgment, so it changes by role and metro area rather than being a single national number.
Wage source
OEWS
Levels
1 – 4
Verified
2026-07-30
As of , the H-1B prevailing-wage system uses four wage levels tied to the local OEWS wage distribution: Level 1 (entry) at the 17th percentile, Level 2 (qualified) at the 34th, Level 3 (experienced) at the 50th, and Level 4 (fully competent) at the 67th percentile. DOL publishes an exact dollar figure for all four levels — per SOC occupation code and area of intended employment, and only for one wage year at a time. The current OEWS wage year is July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027, effective , which means every level figure quoted from the July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 wage year is now historical.
Page updated: . Last verified: . Date retrieved: . VisaSignal is a public filing research tool, not legal advice or a case-specific wage calculator.
Level by level
Each level is a percentile of the OEWS wage for a specific occupation and area, so the dollar value of a level changes with the SOC code and worksite. Use the level to read where a filing's prevailing wage sits, not as a universal salary.
Lowest of the four wage levels. DOL assigns it to roles requiring basic understanding of duties and limited judgment, often early-career or supervised positions.
For workers who have a good understanding of the occupation and perform moderately complex tasks with some independent judgment.
The median OEWS wage. Used for experienced workers who apply specialized knowledge and may guide or train others.
Highest of the four. For workers with sufficient experience to plan and lead projects and use advanced judgment in the occupation.
Getting the dollar figure
A percentile is not a salary. These four steps turn a level into the dollar amount DOL actually publishes for one occupation, one area, and one wage year.
A wage level has no dollar value until you name a SOC occupation code and an area of intended employment. The same Level 2 is a different number in San Jose and in Omaha, so start from the exact job and worksite rather than a national figure.
DOL publishes the Level 1 through Level 4 wage for every SOC code and area in the OFLC Wage Search tool on FLAG — the successor to the retired FLC Data Center Online Wage Library. The same figures ship as downloadable wage files.
The level figures are re-issued annually. The current OEWS wage year runs July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 and took effect 2026-07-01; July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 figures are now historical. A level amount quoted without its wage year can be a year out of date.
Where a survey supplies only two levels, the statute divides the gap between them into thirds: add one third to the lower level for Level 2 and subtract one third from the upper level for Level 3. That arithmetic is why the four levels are evenly spaced within their occupation and area.
“Where the Secretary of Labor uses, or makes available to employers, a governmental survey to determine the prevailing wage, such survey shall provide at least 4 levels of wages commensurate with experience, education, and the level of supervision. Where an existing government survey has only 2 levels, 2 intermediate levels may be created by dividing by 3, the difference between the 2 levels offered, adding the quotient thus obtained to the first level and subtracting that quotient from the second level.”
Applied to a Level 1 of $88,000 and a Level 4 of $154,000, the step between adjacent levels is $22,000:
These figures are an arithmetic illustration only, chosen so the division is easy to check by hand. They are not the published OEWS wage for any SOC code, metro area, or wage year — look those up in OFLC Wage Search.
Observed in real filings
The percentiles above say where a level sits in a local wage distribution. This table says what dollar figures DOL accepted at each level across the labor condition applications imported into VisaSignal — the filing population, not a published national wage.
Across 242,914 imported DOL labor condition applications that state both an OES wage level and a yearly prevailing wage through FY2026 Q2, this is the prevailing-wage distribution DOL actually accepted at each level. Median accepted prevailing wage rises from $71,136 at Level I to $153,317 at Level IV. Retrieved from official US Department of Labor OFLC disclosure data on 2026-07-23.
Wage observations
242,914
Levels with data
4 of 4
Yearly prevailing wages only
Latest source period
FY2026 Q2
| Wage level | Filings | Lowest | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level I | 36,781 | $18,491 | $57,221 | $71,136 | $89,482 | $377,666 |
| Level II | 96,267 | $26,033 | $88,026 | $103,646 | $120,536 | $357,947 |
| Level III | 56,853 | $16,179 | $110,178 | $127,837 | $152,880 | $13,497,100 |
| Level IV | 53,013 | $33,030 | $130,749 | $153,317 | $180,315 | $588,453 |
262,390 of 293,507 imported LCA rows (89%) record an OES wage level of I through IV. A further 1,100 were marked N/A by the filer and 30,017 carry no wage-level field, which is expected: Form ETA-9035 Section F asks an employer to complete only one prevailing-wage source, and only the OES option (question 13) has a wage level at all. Of the levelled rows, 242,914 state their prevailing wage as a yearly figure and are the ones aggregated below — hourly, weekly, and monthly rows are excluded rather than converted.
These are observed prevailing wages on imported DOL labor condition applications, not a published national wage for any level. DOL publishes the level figures per SOC occupation code and area of intended employment, so a distribution pooled across every occupation and worksite describes the filing population, not any one job. A prevailing wage is also a floor: the employer's offered wage on the same filing can be higher, and a certified LCA is a Department of Labor record rather than proof that USCIS approved a petition.
Because a level is a percentile of one occupation’s local wage distribution, the same table is more useful narrowed to a single job. Every role page carries this breakdown for its own filings — see Software Engineer H-1B salary for one worked example, or browse the H-1B salary database for another role.
Pending change
A DOL notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2026 (91 FR 15454) would re-index the four levels higher. Its comment period closed May 26, 2026 and no final rule has been published as of July 30, 2026, so the current percentiles still apply to filings today.
| Wage level | Current percentile | Proposed percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 17th percentile | 34th percentile |
| Level 2 | 34th percentile | 52nd percentile |
| Level 3 | 50th percentile | 70th percentile |
| Level 4 | 67th percentile | 88th percentile |
How to read it
A wage level sets the prevailing-wage floor for a job. It is shaped by the occupation, area, and duties, and the employer's offered wage can still be higher.
The same Level 2 means different dollar amounts in different metro areas and SOC codes, because each level is a percentile of that local OEWS wage distribution — not a fixed national salary.
DOL maps the level from the job's requirements, complexity, supervision, and judgment described in the prevailing-wage request, so a senior title does not automatically mean Level 3 or 4.
Levels are computed from the OEWS survey by default. Employers may instead use another permitted wage source (e.g. an independent survey), which is why two filings for the same role can differ.
On an LCA, the wage level sets the prevailing-wage floor, but the employer's offered (actual) wage can be higher. Compare both in the public filing rows rather than reading the level alone.
Official-source trail
The four-level structure and its divide-by-three arithmetic come from statute; the percentile mapping and current wage year come from DOL, while VisaSignal salary pages rely on imported DOL LCA disclosure rows.
Audit the VisaSignal layer
The official links above are the primary records. Review how VisaSignal normalizes those records and when its public imports last refreshed.
Continue researching
Use these pages to see how wage levels show up in real LCA rows and how they fit the broader required-wage rules.
LCA and PERM rows are filing signals, not USCIS approvals, green-card approvals, legal advice, or outcome predictions.
FAQ
The H-1B prevailing-wage system uses four wage levels tied to the local OEWS wage distribution for the occupation: Level 1 (entry) at the 17th percentile, Level 2 (qualified) at the 34th, Level 3 (experienced) at the 50th, and Level 4 (fully competent) at the 67th percentile. These figures have been in effect since 2005.
DOL does publish an exact dollar figure for all four levels — but per occupation and area, not nationally. Look the SOC code and area of intended employment up in the OFLC Wage Search tool on FLAG and it returns the Level 1 through Level 4 wage for that pairing. Two things decide which range applies: the occupation-and-area pairing, and the wage year. The current OEWS wage year runs July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 and took effect 2026-07-01, so figures from July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 are now historical. Because each level is a percentile of one local wage distribution, Level 1 for a well-paid occupation in an expensive metro can exceed Level 4 for a different occupation elsewhere.
By arithmetic from the outer two levels, under 8 U.S.C. §1182(p)(4). Where a government survey supplies only two levels, the statute creates the two intermediate levels by dividing the difference between them by 3, adding that quotient to the lower level and subtracting it from the upper level. So Level 2 is Level 1 plus one third of the Level 1-to-Level 4 spread, and Level 3 is Level 4 minus that same step — which is why the four levels sit evenly spaced within any single occupation and area.
Level 4 is the highest of the four prevailing-wage levels, set at approximately the 67th percentile of the local OEWS wage distribution for the occupation. There is no single national Level 4 dollar amount: it is published per SOC code and area of intended employment in OFLC Wage Search, and it is re-issued each wage year. The employer's offered wage on the filing can be higher than Level 4 — the level sets a floor, not a ceiling.
Level 1 is set at the 17th percentile of the local OEWS wage for the occupation and is meant for entry-level roles; Level 2 is set at the 34th percentile for qualified workers performing moderately complex tasks. In dollar terms the gap is exactly one third of the spread between Level 1 and Level 4 for that occupation and area, so it varies with the local wage distribution rather than being a fixed amount.
Not yet. A DOL proposed rule published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2026 (91 FR 15454) would raise the four levels to the 34th, 52nd, 70th, and 88th percentiles. Its comment period closed May 26, 2026, and as of July 30, 2026 no final rule has been published, so the current 17th/34th/50th/67th percentiles still apply to filings today. Separately, the OEWS dollar figures behind those percentiles did change on July 1, 2026 with the new wage year — that is an annual data refresh, not a change to the percentile structure.
The wage level is determined for a specific occupation, worksite area, and set of job requirements. Use the H-1B salary database and the LCA disclosure lookup to see the prevailing-wage and offered-wage fields on real filings for the role and employer you are researching.
No. A DOL-certified LCA is not the same as USCIS H-1B petition approval. It is an official labor-condition filing signal that should be interpreted with that limit.
No. PERM certification is one step in an employment-based green card process. It does not mean a green card, I-140 petition, or adjustment of status was approved.
No. Official filing history can show recent activity, roles, worksites, and wage signals, but it does not guarantee future sponsorship or predict legal outcomes.